Stonehenge and its Environs 134
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Stonehenge and its Environs

A303 to go into a tunnel eventually?

thesweetcheat T
thesweetcheat Oct 1, 2013 17:58:24
Replying to Mustard

Mustard wrote:
What we need as a bare minimum to improve things is a vast investment in public transport, but that isn't going to happen because there's simply no significant demand for it.
The main reason there's no vast investment in the rail network isn't because there is no demand, actually there is a soaring demand from commuters to do just that.

"88% of rail respondents deem government support for the provision of rail infrastructure 'essential'.
Improving the capacity on existing lines is regarded as the most urgent infrastructure need."

http://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/news/77075/demand-for-government-investment-in-rail-infrastructure-intensifying

The main reason for the lack of investment in infrastructure is because the profits made from rail fares are paid to the shareholders of the privatised train companies. You will not get significant infrastructure spending on the railways unless they are re-nationalised. Currently privatised rail services are subsidised by the taxpayer by about 5 times as much as BR was.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/13/rail-fares-passengers-renationalisation

Off-point, but some interesting stuff here:

http://www.passengerfocus.org.uk/key-issues/future-of-transport/nine-future-stories

M Mustard
Mustard Oct 2, 2013 09:28:26
Replying to thesweetcheat

thesweetcheat wrote:
The main reason there's no vast investment in the rail network isn't because there is no demand, actually there is a soaring demand from commuters to do just that.
That's a very different issue though. That's demand from people who are already commuters on existing transport corridors. That's not the same thing as demand for new public transport routes.

thesweetcheat wrote:
The main reason for the lack of investment in infrastructure is because the profits made from rail fares are paid to the shareholders of the privatised train companies. You will not get significant infrastructure spending on the railways unless they are re-nationalised. Currently privatised rail services are subsidised by the taxpayer by about 5 times as much as BR was.
Well I think you'd be lucky to see much in the way of new infrastructure (as opposed to improvements of existing infrastructure) even if the railways were state funded. I'm in total agreement with the principle of renationalisation though, and I'd like to see many new rail routes, even though I think there's a snowball's chance in hell of it ever happening. And to be fair, in many instances, the demand simply doesn't exist to justify the investment. The car is simply too comfortable, cheap and convenient to be easily displaced.

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